Avena leaned back in the chair. "Poor Star," she sighed. Sure, this was the 'Net and people made up life stories all the time, but sometimes one was for real. Like Rage, for example. She'd visited him once in California and every bit of his story was true…except for the movie-star thing…and, of course, his name was really Red Lewis, not Rage.

Still, if Aerostar was telling the truth, which she felt he was, his life, well…sucked. That first bit, about his mother dying, had reminded her of Rowen…she wanted to at least see him, remind him that she would listen if he wanted to talk. So what if Cye'd told her to leave him alone? She wouldn't be forcing Rowen to talk to her, the way the guys tried to.

Remembering Aerostar's 4 choices list, she shuddered. What if, like Aerostar, Rowen was considering death? Of course, Rowen's father wasn't an abusive drunk, but his mother had died…

Bam, bam, bam!

"Bloody 'ell!" Avena yelped, startled, as her chair fell backwards and she thumped to the floor. The sound that had surprised her so was that of someone banging on the door.

"Avie, open up!"

'Oh. Cye again.' She shook her head with a smile at her cousin's behavior, but didn't answer him. While he pounded at the door and said things she didn't listen to, Avena turned off Mia's computer and opened the window. She paused halfway over the sill and listened for a moment. Cye wasn't even trying the doorknob. "Idiot," she murmured. She slipped to the door and silently unlocked it. Then she climbed out the window. "Absolute idiot," she laughed as she listened to Cye's continued noise at the door.

* * * * * * * * *

"Cye, she's not comin' out, man," Kento repeated.

"Avena, open the door!" Cye ignored Kento's comment.

"She's not even answering you," Sage pointed out.

"Actually, I haven't heard a peep outta there," observed Ryo.

"Okay, fine! If that's how you're going to be…" Cye growled to the door. He got a grip on the doorknob and then slammed his shoulder into the door. He obviously wasn't expecting the door to be unlocked. With a small crash, Cye fell through the doorway.

"Oh, dude!" laughed Kento. "That was smoooooooth!"

"Oh dear," said Cye as he saw the open window.

Just then, the roaring start of a motor was heard. For a moment, the guys all looked at each other, confused. Then, with Cye in the lead, all four teens scrambled to the front door. They arrived on the porch just in time to see Avena's rented car move in reverse out of the driveway. Cye ran after it. "Avena, wait!"

"Sorry, Cye!" the wild girl called, not really meaning it. She spun the car around at the end of the drive. "But I've a little errand to run! The guys'll get you home! Bye!" With a smooth little roar, the silver convertible sped away.

Cye stared after his willfully unruly cousin. Slowly, he turned around and stomped up to the porch. Face to face with Kento, he silently smoldered in anger, glaring into the Chinese boy's eyes.

"Cye—" Kento began.

" 'Have Avena drive you,' you said," Cye growled. " 'That's all there is to it,' you said. Of course, I knew that wasn't likely, but did I listen to myself? Nooo. I listened to a brainless dimwit by the name of Kento…Rei…Fuan! And now, well, my cousin's off to who-knows-where in the middle of a country she's practically completely new to, and who do you think's to blame? Well? Who?"

Kento struggled to swallow. "Cye, please—"

"Let me help you: his name is Kento. Now, how do you think I should punish Kento?"

"Uh, would you give him a five second head start?"

Cye cocked his head to the side and snarled, "I'll give him one second. Deal?" He held out his hand.

Kento chewed at his lower lip. "Three seconds," he bargained.

Cye glared threateningly. "One second or zero. Final offer."

Gulping hard, Kento slowly took Cye's hand. "Deal. Umm, just what're ya gonna do to me—I mean, him?"

Cye grinned maliciously. "Mia has a new frying pan. It hasn't been used yet. What better way to first use it than by frying a heart in it?"

"I think I'll make use of that second's head start, now."

"Okay. Go."

Kento scrambled away as fast as he could. Cye was after him in a flash, fury written in his expression.

"Mmm," said Ryo.

"Hmm," agreed Sage.

"TV?" Ryo asked.

"Why not?" Sage replied.

As they closed the door behind them, the screams of a fleeing Kento filled the air.

* * * * * * * * *

He looked at the clock on the wall for the fourth time in five minutes. Another couple hours till work was out. Sitting at a microscope gave him too much time to think. And he hated what his thoughts turned to.

"She was in bad shape. We did all we could, but…"

'Go away. Shut up, shut up, shut up.'

Why? Why did this happen? As far as he could tell, there wasn't a reason. And that made him all the more angry.

If he could just sit it out, just a few more hours, maybe he could forget… Try to drown it all out again.

He tried to concentrate. 'Work,' he thought, peering through the microscope.

…I miss you guys. I wish you could be here…

He wanted to scream. 'Why can't you just leave me alone?' he asked the memory.

Would she never let him be?

* * * * * * * * *

"Left or right? Or maybe straight? Oh, why can't they write street signs in English?"

Honk, complained the car behind her. Avena turned around in her seat. "Oh, shut up!" she screamed. The other driver screamed back in Japanese. Avena rolled her eyes and smiled. "I don't understand what your saying," she shouted singsong-style and turned back to the front.

"Umm, I guess left will do." She turned in that direction. Once she was about a mile up that street, she thumped herself upside the head. "Oh, no! I was supposed to go right, not left!"

Without a second thought, she spun the little sports car in a tight U-turn. "I hate driving in Japan!" she creamed at no one in particular, ignoring the panicked screeching of other cars swerving out of her way and the drivers of those cars yelling. Only after she nearly plowed over a sedan did she say, "Oops! Sorry!"

Nearly an hour later, Avena sat in traffic, thoroughly annoyed. "La de da, la de dee…ohhh, somebody shoot me! La, de, something, something, something…la, la, la," she gave up trying to remember the lyrics to that song. Instead, she stood up in the car and screamed, "Can we PLEASE get moving 'ere?!"

About seven other drivers looked at her and screamed, "URUSAI!!!"

Avena scowled and sat down. "Urusai? What the bloody heck does that mean?" But still, she tried to be patient.

Hopefully, she'd find Rowen's apartment complex before dark. She made a face at the thought of being out later than that. The drivers around here really had no manners, so rude.

* * * * * * * * *

Oh, well. Might as well start the walk back to the apartment complex. He didn't have to go straight home, he could take a detour. He still had an hour and a half to go before he really had to be home and it only took 15 minutes to walk from the library to the apartment complex.

Placing the book back on its shelf, Rowen left the library. It wasn't as windy as before outside. He breathed deeply of the fresh air. 'Whoa,' he thought. 'Don't do that again, Hashiba. Very bad idea.' Upon breathing as deeply as he had, he'd suddenly felt the start of a cold spasm. What could possibly be wrong with him?

Two blocks from the apartment complex, he turned east. As he neared his destination, he had to force himself to remain calm. At the bus station, he headed for the information booth. This would only take a few minutes, then he could go home.

Three things out of his 4 choices had been struck off by the chat group, but no one had mentioned his first choice. He didn't really want to do this…

" 'Sometimes it's better to do what you don't want to'," he quoted of Mummergirl.

* * * * * * * * *

"Anybody home?"

No reply.

With relief, Mia sighed and opened the door all the way. White Blaze walked in after her, exaggerating a limp on is left foreleg. "Oh, stop," Mia said. "You're a terrible actor."

The tiger glared at her but quit faking the limp. "It was just a little shot, Blaze," insisted Mia. "Don't complain so much." White Blaze ignored her with all the feline haughtiness he could muster.

Dropping onto the sofa, Mia grinned at the animal's silly behavior and tried to relax. Such a tiresome day…and it wasn't over yet. No one had answered her when she arrived at the manor, but that didn't mean they weren't around somewhere. When she'd dropped Sage off at the manor at 11 o'clock that morning and then left again with White Blaze, she'd told him she'd be back by 6 at the latest to pick up him and Ryo, who was to be brought up there by Yuli's father. So, at least two Ronins were still here. She hadn't seen any other car in the drive, so Avena and Cye must be gone; Fazer too.

Ah, but right now…this glorious silence… "Quiet…nice…" Such beautiful, wondrous peace…

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!" Slam.

"Oooh, you did not just slam the door in my face! Alright, so now that adds up to your heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and stomach. I might as well fry every bit of you." Slam.

Mia sighed. "Me and my big mouth," she said and pushed away from the comfort of the sofa. Then she frowned in confusion. "Waitasec. What's wrong about this picture?"

"Ohhhhhhhh, CRAP!!!"

"Kento?" The reply to Mia's inquiry came in the form of Kento barreling into her. He stopped and set her back on her feet, said, "Sorry, Mia! Sorry, sorry, sorry. Umm, I gotta go," and ran off at breakneck speed.

Mia watched his exit, dazed and still puzzled. "Well, that doesn't answer my question. What's wrong here?"

Once again, the answer had to come in a painful fashion. Since her back had been turned to the direction of Kento's entrance, she didn't see it coming. Sitting on the floor for the second time in the past 15 seconds, she was surprised to see who'd collided with her this time.

"Cye?"

The teenager jumped to his feet and helped her up. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mia. Did I hurt you?"

"No," she smiled, "though after the way Kento ran me over, getting hit by a semi-truck would be less painful."

"Well, as long as you're okay, I have to go now." He was halfway out the door by the time she realized he'd moved.

"HOLD IT!!!" she screamed. Cye halted. "Get over here," she ordered. When he was back at her side, she threw back her head and used all her lungpower to make herself heard. "EVERY LIVING BEING IN THIS HOUSE WILL REPORT TO ME THIS INSTANT OR DIE CRUEL, PAINFUL, DRAWN-OUT DEATHS AT MY HANDS!!! NOW, MOVE IT!!!"

Following this very serious demand, the Manor seemed encased in silence. Then, the thunder of several feet on the stairs quaked the house. White Blaze pounded into the room first, Ryo literally hanging on his tail, then Sage rushed in, nearly colliding with Cye, and Kento arrived a split-millisecond after him.

Mia glowered at the lot of them. "Blaze, sit over there," she ordered, pointing to the door at one end of the room. "Anyone tries to leave, you will not let them." She walked to the other door and locked it. Then she came up to the boys. Looking into Ryo's eyes, she said sweetly, "You may sit down." The bearer of Wildfire did so promptly. To Sage, she said just as sweetly, "You too," and Halo followed suit.

Now Mia looked at Cye. "First of all, where's Avena? And you may use only one word."

"Elsewhere."

"Kento, does Cye want to kill you? One word."

Kento looked at Cye and said, "Yes."

"Alright. Cye, do Ryo and Sage have anything to do with this?"

"No."

"Then Ryo and Sage may leave. Not a suggestion," she added.

Ryo and Sage left, gladly.

"Next question's for Cye. Does Avena have something to do with this?"

Cye glared at Kento. "Yes," he growled.

"Kento, you may stand a little farther away from Cye. Only a little. Five feet max." Kento was only too happy to use those five feet.

"Alright, Cye. You may tell me what this is all about."

So, Cye did. Mia listened with increasing exasperation and a frown. When Cye finished with, "so Kento has to die," she looked upwards. "Why me?" she asked the gods.

Kento and Cye waited silently.

Mia sighed. "Cye, you can't kill Kento—don't argue with me, young man—and you can't blame him for the…mental state of your cousin. Avena will do what Avena will do, and you know that. If you want to vent your aggression, go cook something that isn't human, okay?"

Cye grudgingly removed himself to the kitchen, leaving behind a very relieved Kento. "As for you, you're very lucky," Mia reminded Hardrock. "Cye would've made sushi out of you. No matter how small he is, he can still beat you in a fight."

"But why? I'm stronger than him!"

"He's small, swift—"

"And thus superior," Kento finished for her, "I know, I know. It's not fair…"

Mia left him to his sulking and locked herself in her bedroom. She the computer desk chair back up. "So she was on my computer too." She'd check for any problems later. Time to make a call. She had a separate line in her room, so she needn't worry about one of the guys hearing this.

The person she was calling picked up on the second ring. "Talk to me," a male voice greeted.

"Randy, hi! Guess who this is?"

"…Mia? Mia as in the French kid?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hey, haven't heard from you in years! Last I saw of you, you were arguing with your mother about that skimpy little outfit. She said you were too young to wear such a thing and that you'd regret it later. Did she win or did you?" This time he spoke in French.

"I did…but she was right."

"Live and learn, kid. How're you doing these days?"

"Oh, great. I'm a professor's assistant at a university here and sometimes I kind of teach—"

"Teaching? At your age?"

"I came to live with my grandfather and he kind of set me up."

"Well. So what's up?"

"You're still on the police force in Toyama, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Umm, I kinda need a favor?"

"Oh, name it then! I owe you for keeping me from falling off that bridge all those years ago," he laughed.

"Well, I have this friend and his cousin came to visit from England. She's just a little bit, uh, insane and she drove off alone a while ago. She doesn't know Japanese and being the way she is, she's bound to get into some kind of trouble. So, I was wondering if maybe you could be on the lookout for her, uh, take her into custody if you see her…?"

"I guess I could. What's her name, what's she driving, what does she look—"

"Randy, I know the drill, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Uh, so…go on."

Mia gave him all the information he'd need. "I really appreciate this, Randy. Avena is very dear to my friend."

"Hey, who is this friend anyway…a boyfriend, perhaps?" Randy teased.

"Randy," warned Mia.

"Why not? You had at least three fellows after you when I was in France."

"Cye is just a friend. I have four other friends like him and we all get along just great. Friends, Randy, nothing more."

"Sure, Mia, sure. Look, I gotta go but I'll give you a call if I find your little wild card, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." She hung up. Just then a scream came at her door and someone started pounding at it.

"Mia, help me," Kento pleaded. "Cye's after me again!"

Mia groaned and buried her head beneath her bed pillows.